Apparatus for cutting and forming wire



April 15, 1958 R. R. GASPER ET AL 2,830,625

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND FORMING WIRE Filed March 29, 1955 United States Patent APPARATUS son CUTTING AND FORMING WIRE Robert R. Gasper and Raymond A. Greener, Clarendon Hills, Ill., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 29, 1955, Serial No. 497,687

3 Claims. (Cl. 140-104) This invention relates to apparatus for cutting and forming wire and more particularly to a device for cutting and bending lead wires of resistors.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved device for accurately cutting lead wires of electrical components to proper length and bending them into a desired shape.

Another object of this invention is to provide a double rack mechanism for successively cutting and bending lead wires of electrical-resistors in one operation.

One embodiment of the present invention for cutting and bending resistor lead wires may include a supporting block having a nest for receiving the resistor whereby the lead wires of the resistor extend past the edges of the supporting block into the path of two spaced cutters mounted on a shaft and operated by a handle. A pair of upright forming shafts which are mounted in the supporting block carry mandrels and lugs which engage the lead wires to bend them, the lugs bending the lead wires around the mandrels. The lower ends of the forming shafts are secured to gears which are meshed with a reciprocable rack having stops between which an actuating rack is slidably mounted. A driving gear secured to the shaft meshes with the actuating rack which slides a predetermined distance on the rack until one of the stops is engaged, whereupon both racks move together to rotate the forming shafts and thus bend the lead wires after sufficient movement of the cutters has been allowed by the lost motion between the two racks to first permit the clipping of the lead wires to proper length.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description thereof and the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of the device showing the cutters engaging the lead wires and with portions broken away to show the operating racks in the supporting block;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device with portions broken away to show one rack slidably mounted in the other rack and engaging the driving gear;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section of the device taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing the relationship of the two racks;

Fig. 4 shows the resistor and its lead wires before the clipping and bending operations; and

Fig. 5 shows the resistor after the cutting and bending operations on the lead wires are completed.

Referring now in detail to the drawings a supporting block 11 having a nest 12 for receiving a resistor 13 is shown secured to an L-shaped plate 15 which is attached to a clamp 16 for securing the device to a desirable support.

A pair of cutters 18 and 19 having shearing surfaces 21 and 22 for clipping the lead wires 24 and 25 of the resistor 13 are rigidly secured to a shaft 27 which passes horizontally through the supporting block ll, the cut- 2,830,625 Patented Apr. 15, 1958 ters 18 and 19 being in facing engagement with opposite sides of the block 11 whereby the upper edges of the block 11 cooperate with the shearing surfaces 21 and 22 to clip the-lead wires 24 and 25 to proper length. A pair of upright forming shafts 32 and 33 having mandrels 35 and 36 and bending lugs 38 and 39, respectively, for bending the lead wires 24 and 25 are mounted in vertical bores 41 and 42 in the supporting block 11 in alignment with the lead wires 24 and 25 of the re-v sistor 13 positioned in the nest 12.

The lower ends of the forming shafts 32 and 33 are secured to gears 44 and 45 positioned in a transverse slot 46 (Fig. 1) in the lower part of the supporting block 11 for rotating the forming shafts 32 and 33 to bend the lead wires 24 and 25. A rack 48 having teeth on opposite sides for meshing with the gears 44 and 45 to rotate them is slidably mounted in a slot 49 (Fig. 3)

' in the lower portion of the supporting block 11.

An actuating rack 51 is slidably mounted in a dovetail groove in the rack 48 between a pair of spaced stops 52 and 53 on the rack 48 whereby the actuating rack 51 slides along the rack 48 until it engages one of the stops 52 or 53. A driving gear 56 positioned in a vertical aperture 58 (Fig. 2) in the supporting block 11 and secured to the shaft 27 meshes with and moves the actuating rack 51 until it engages one of the stops 52 on the rack 48 whereupon both racks move together to rotate the gears 44 and 45 and the forming shafts 32 and 33 to bend the lead wires 24 and 25.

A handle 68 is attached to one of the cutters 19 for rotating the shaft 27 to operate the device. An adjust-. able stop screw 61 is secured to the L -shaped plate 15 in alignment with the rack 48 for adjusting the distance which the rack 48 can travel to thus adjust the degree of bend made in the lead wires 24 and 25. An upright stop 63 on the plate 15 limits movement of the rack 48 to the left (Fig. 1) when the handle is pivoted clockwise to its normal position.

In operating the device, the resistor 13 is placed in the nest 12 with its straight lead wires 24 and 25 be tween the mandrels 35 and 36 and the lugs 38 and 39 on the forming shafts 32 and 33, the ends of the lead wires 24 and 25 extending past the edges 29 and 30 of the supporting block 11 into the path of the shearing surfaces 21 and 22 on the cutters 18 and 19. The operator then moves the handle 60 counterclockwise (Fig. 1), rotating the driving gear 56 and moving the cutters 18 and 19 toward the lead wires 24 and 25. As the driving gear 56 is rotated counterclockwise it moves the actuating rack 51 from a position engaging the left stop 53 toward the right stop 52. Immediately after the cutters 18 and 19 clip the lead wires 24 and 25 to proper length, the actuating rack 51 engages the right stop 52, whereupon both racks move to the right together (Fig. 1). Movement of the rack 48 to the right rotates the gears 44 and 45 and the forming shafts 32 and 33 se cured thereto whereby the lugs 38 and 39 bend the lead wires 24 and 25 around the mandrels 35 and 36.

The handle 60 is moved counterclockwise until the rack 48 engages the stop screw 61, which has been adjusted to determine the length of travel of the rack 48 and thus the degree of bend made in the lead wires 24 and 25. The handle 63 is then moved clockwise until the actuating rack 51 engages the left stop 53 and moves the rack 48 into engagement with the upright stop 63 on the plate 15 thereby returning the cutters 18 and 19 to normal position. The completed resistor 13 is then removed from the nest 12 and another resistor 13 is inserted therein and the above procedure repeated.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of this invention. Numerous other arr QM rangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for cutting and bending lead wires of electrical components, comprising a supporting member for holding an electrical component, a pair of cutters for cooperating with the supporting member to clip the lead wires of the electrical component, a pair of forming members mounted on the supporting member, a pair of gears secured to the forming members, a first rack meshing with the gears to rotate said gears and forming members to bend the lead Wires, a second rack slidably mounted on the first rack, means for actuating the cutters and the second rack, and a plurality of spaced stops on the first rack for permitting lost motion between the racks until the cutters have clipped the lead wires whereupon the moving second rack engages one of the said stops to move the first rack to actuate the forming members.

2. A device for cutting and bending resistor lead wires, comprising a supporting block having a nest for receiving a resistor with lead wires, a pair of cutters rigidly mounted on a shaft passing through the supporting block for cooperating with the edges of the supporting block to clip the lead wires of the resistor to predetermined length, a handle secured to one of the cutters for actuating them, a pair of upright forming shafts having mandrels and lugs for engaging the lead wires to bend them, a pair of gears secured to the lower ends of the forming shafts, a first rack reciprocably mounted on the supporting block and meshing with the gears for rotating said gears and forming shafts to bend the lead wires, a second rack slidably mounted on the first rack, a driving gear secured to the shaft and meshing with the second rack for moving it when the handle is operated, a pair of spaced stops secured to the first rack for permitting lost motion between the racks until the cutters have clipped the lead wires, and means for adjusting the travel of the first rack to vary the degree of bend made in the lead wires.

3. A device for cutting and bending wires of articles, comprising a supporting block having a nest for receiving an article with Wires to be cut and bent, a pair of cutters mounted on a shaft passing through the supporting block for cooperating with the edges of the supporting block to clip the wires, a handle secured to one of the cutters for actuating them, a first rack reciprocably mounted on the supporting block, a pair of gears meshed with the first rack, a pair of forming shafts secured to 1 said gears and having lugs and mandrels for engaging the wires to bend them when the first rack moves to rotate the gears, a second rack slidably mounted on the first rack, a driving gear secured to the shaft and meshing with the second rack for moving it when the handle is operated, means secured to the first rack and engageable by the second rack after the cutters have clipped the wires whereby the first rack is not moved to rotate the forming members until the wires have been clipped, and a threaded member supported in alignment with the first rack for adjusting the travel of said first rack to vary the degree of bend made in the wires.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,212,437 Bates Jan. 16, 1929 1,713,964 Hoff et a1. May 21, 1929 2,452,593 Miller Nov. 2, 1948 2,593,083 Adano Apr. 15, 1952 

